Germany Relents on Nazi-Looted Art Advisory Commission Jewish Membership: German Minister of Culture Monika Grütters was dismissively rejecting any changes to the Advisory Commission that issues recommendations on claims of Nazi-looted art in German museums. Seven days later Grütters announced that she had recommended that the commission include “a person with a Jewish background.” The lesson? No voice is too small to make a difference.

German museum seeks funding to purchase looted Kirchner: The Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is seeking to raise funds to purchase back an Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting after reaching a settlement with the heir of Alfred Hess, a Jewish shoe-manufacturer whose family was persecuted by the Nazis.

Italy arrests 12 over $17 million Verona art theft in November: Twelve people suspected of stealing paintings worth some 15 million euros ($16.6 million) have been arrested, Italian police said on Tuesday. The 17 paintings, including works by Tintoretto, Mantegna and Peter Paul Rubens, were taken by armed robbers shortly before the Castelvecchio museum in Verona closed on Nov. 19.

‘Cols rouges’ lawyers push for dismissal as long-awaited trial opens in Paris: The trial against “Cols rouges”, the former art handlers at the Hôtel Drouot charged with theft and receipt of stolen goods, opened in Paris on Monday, 14 March with an immediate call for dismissal by the defendants’ lawyers. Following lengthy arguments from the defence to cancel the court proceedings—based on the French rule of “Question prioritaire de constitutionnalité”, which allows citizens to question whether any charges brought against them infringe on their constitutional rights—the judge called a recess in the trial several times to consider. But a ruling was not passed and the case continues this week.

Russia Launches Criminal Investigation Into Culture Ministry Over Embezzlement of Public Funds: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has embarked on a criminal investigation involving a number of senior culture ministry officials suspected of embezzling state funds intended for restoration of cultural heritage sites.

Norwegian Masonic books stolen by Nazis found: Books belonging to former SS leader Heinrich Himmler were recently recovered in a warehouse outside Prague. Among the finds where thousands of Norwegian Masonic books that the Germans took from Oslo during the war. “I was personally involved in identifying some of the books. Many of them belonged to the central Norwegian Order of Freemasons library in Oslo,” Bjørn Helge Horrisland, a Norwegian Freemason historian stated.

Cambridge University Removes Looted Benin Bronze after Student Protest: Cambridge University has taken down from display a bronze statue of a cockerel after students at Jesus College successfully campaigned for its removal. The cockerel, which is a Benin bronze, was looted by British colonizers from what is now Nigeria in the 19th century. The college is now considering the repatriation of the statue, known as an “okukor,” after students voted for the artwork to be returned to Nigeria last month, the BBC reported.

TEFAF 2016: “The bubble has not burst in art market values,” delegates told: The global market for art and antiques may have dropped by seven per cent in sales by value last year, but this is “not a signal that the bubble has burst”, the art market’s leading economist told TEFAF 2016 delegates.

Sotheby’s and Christie’s Adapt to Digital Age: The top art auction houses had a carefree and comfortable time of it for most of the first couple of centuries of their existence, but lately they have been hustling to adjust to a radical transformation of their industry. New digital technology and new customers with new attitudes in new places, along with new competition from deft and nimble upstarts eager to cater to them, have forced the dominant companies, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, to develop new ways to do business.

Law Enforcement Focuses on Asia Week in Inquiry of Antiquities Smuggling: In the seven years since its founding, Asia Week New York has grown from a small promotional effort by a few Manhattan art galleries to a splashy, 10-day event that combines museum exhibitions with art dealing. Last year, organizers say, it led to $360 million in sales. But this year, Asia Week, which ends Saturday, has become the focal point of an aggressive and unusual law enforcement effort. Federal officials working with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have seized on the festival to orchestrate a series of daily raids that have netted more than a half-dozen antiquities that the authorities say were looted overseas, then smuggled out for later sale by auction houses or dealers.

Federal Agents Seize Stolen Antiquities at Christie’s: The case of disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor continues to unfold, as federal agents seized two religious Indian artifacts—believed to have been smuggled—at Christie’s on Friday, March 11. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service has announced in a press release that special agents working in conjunction with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office raided Christie’s in New York City, ahead of a special Christie’s auction scheduled for March 15, during Asia Art Week.

Feds Seize Ancient Sculpture Headed to East Coast Auction House for Asia Week: Asia Week sees dozens of New York dealers and auction houses offering countless antiquities. That number is one less today, as federal agents have taken possession of an ancient sculpture they say is worth several hundred thousand dollars and was to be on offer this week. The seizure was announced in a press release from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which jointly have been tracking antiquities smuggling for the last eight years under the auspices of what they refer to as Operation Hidden Idol. It states that it was heading towards an “East Coast auction house,” and was “slated to be auctioned during ‘Asia Week New York,'” but doesn’t specify further.

Ancient Statue Is Seized From Manhattan Gallery: Federal agents seized an ancient Afghan statue from a Manhattan gallery Wednesday morning, part of a string of seizures that began Friday and have coincided with Asia Week festivities in New York. The object, identified by authorities as an eighth-century marble sculpture of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati, seated on a tiger skin, was taken from a gallery on East 67th Street, where it was being displayed by Leonardo Vigorelli, owner of the Milan-based Dalton Somaré art gallery. Speaking on behalf of Mr. Vigorelli, Lark Mason, chairman of Asia Week and owner of Lark Mason Associates, said the dealer had obtained the proper paperwork needed to import the object and questioned why officials had not previously contacted the dealer to discuss the provenance of the piece.

Yves Bouvier pushes to have New York art consultant’s dealings revealed in US court: The New York-based art consultant Sandy Heller has disclosed he was employed by Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire and owner of AS Monaco football club, as an art adviser in February 2015. Heller’s position was revealed in an affidavit he submitted to a US federal court in December following a petition filed by the Swiss freeport magnate, Yves Bouvier, to have Heller questioned about his dealings with the Russian collector. Bouvier is now pushing to have further documents connected to the sale of a painting by Modigliani disclosed.

Escalating the War on Looting: Like the wars themselves, the looting of antiquities in Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East is proving virtually impossible to stop, despite the best efforts of a host of international agencies, cultural organizations and dogged independent researchers. As the pillaging continues in a region rich in layers of ancient civilizations, the international community is focusing on the marketplace, doing what it can to scare off demand in hopes that supply will shrink.

Antiquities: The spoils of war: Recent years have seen a wealth of commentary on the tragic issue of antiquities destroyed and looted in Syria and Iraq. All lament the barbaric destruction of the cultural patrimony of the region; most warn that the widespread looting is filling the coffers of the so-called Islamic State. Many sources claim that selling such works is an important source of revenue for the terrorist organisation: in February 2015 the Wall Street Journal wrote: “Western intelligence officials say looting is now Islamic State’s second-largest source of finance after oil.”

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